Imua Family Services

We recently had the good fortune of meeting the incredible team at Imua Family Services—a Maui non-profit organization that provides early developmental services for children with special needs, as well as support and resources for their families.

“Imua Family Services’ mission is to, ‘Empower children and their families to reach their full potential.’ Our programs and staff assist children and their families overcome developmental learning challenges in their most critical formative years using play-based instruction designed to help them move forward.”

We were blown away when we found out about the work that Imua carries out here in Maui County and, needless to say, we were delighted and honored to work with them on two very different fundraising projects in the first half of 2017.

Imua Family Services' main headquarters in Kahului, Maui.

The first was the Imua Ball, an annual fundraising gala held at the Hyatt Regency Maui. This year’s event, the Platinum Jubilee, celebrated 70 years of operation for the non profit.

Cake Media were there to help with social media, mostly in managing Imua’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts on the day of the event. Taking on Imua's voice and using it across all our posts, we built up anticipation in the hours leading up to the ball, then covered the festivities as they happened. Our aim was to raise awareness, while encouraging engagement, new followers and—importantly—donations. You can still donate by the way, right here!

We were also taken on by Imua to manage a team of local social media influencers who were helping to get the word out, thank sponsors and spread the use of the #imuaball hashtag. Cake Media had pre-prepared event guides, with key information about the Ball, its performers and key event sponsors and were on hand to provide support as and when needed.

Social Media Prep Kits, created for the Maui influencers.

The second time we worked with Imua was Saturday May 6 on the 2017 Bluesmiths Paddle Imua, a race from Maliko Gulch to Kahului Harbor. The annual downwinder is open to a number of disciplines, including outrigger canoes (OC-1, OC-2, OC-6), Stand-up Paddle Boards (SUP), Surf Skis, Prone Boards and Hydrofoil SUP.

All funds raised from this event go to Camp Imua—a week-long camp for Imua’s children aged 6 to 16. Here they have an opportunity to do all kinds of fun activities such as horseback riding, ziplining and flying in a helicopter, to name just a few.   

We know the Maliko race well, having paddled it ourselves a handful of times in an OC-6 and we were in our element working at this event, considering our mutual love of paddling and Laura’s passion for and history of covering sports (yep-that’s my first love! – LG)

Image courtesy of Paddle Imua

Based at the finish line, Jenny took on the social accounts for Imua Family services – covering the day’s events from a human-interest angle that would make sense to existing and potential followers. 

Starting at the Maliko Gulch start line before zipping back to Kahului Harbor to see the athletes cross the finish line, Laura took over the social pages for Paddle Imua, sharing content before, during and after the race. Laura’s content was geared more towards people that might have been entering the race, paddlers, sponsors, water people, etc – focusing less on the human interest angle and more on the sport, the conditions, the athletes and the action. Taking on different “voices” for the clients and the respective social media pages that we manage is something that we love to do.

To make a long story short, we had a blast. We relish new challenges and what could be better than working with such an incredible organization and cause? 

For more on Imua Family Services and Paddle Imua, give them a follow on Instagram!

Thanks for reading! Laura and Jenny